Had it not been for a handful of civic-minded Lafayette men who perhaps thought it would be cool to be part-owners of a professional basketball team, the Indiana Pacers as we know them today would not exist.

The story of how Joe Bannon, Dick Ebershoff, Lyn Treece and others were convinced to put up $6,000 in 1967 is just the start of a fascinating new book by Mark Montieth on the early days of the ABA Pacers, "Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis."

Montieth, who Purdue basketball fans may remember as the author of "Passion Play," a book that provided an inside look at Gene Keady's 1987-88 Big Ten Conference champions, began researching this story just a few years after wrapping up that project.

Unfortunately for Montieth, he was unable to interview Bannon or Treece but Ebershoff provided some background on the night he and his friends met with Indianapolis Star sports editor Bob Collins at the Lafayette Country Club.

"He had to be the most powerful media guy in the state at that time as the sports editor/columnist of the Indianapolis Star," Montieth said. "People knew him and he knew the movers and shakers. But I think it was kind of a spur of the moment thing where these guys are sitting around a table at that dinner and Collins is telling them there's an effort to start a new league and there's this meeting coming up in New York City. It only takes $5-6,000 to get a team. 'Yeah, let's do it' is pretty much what it amounted to. The timing was right for this and it all came together at that moment."

These were some of Lafayette's most prominent businessmen: Bannon was president of Purdue National Bank, Ebershoff ran Lafayette Tent & Awning, while Treece owned Burger Chef franchises. But none of them, Montieth points out, were incredibly wealthy like the Simons who bought the Pacers in the early 1980s.

"These were bankers, lawyers, insurance executives who were doing well but didn't have an empire of any kind," Montieth said. "I think they deserve a lot of credit. I don't think the Pacers would exist today if not for that Lafayette connection.

"This original group of investors deserves more credit than they get because I think they thought they weren't in this thing to make money. They just wanted Indiana to have a team and they put their money in to keep this thing afloat. I don't know if they were expecting it to be a good investment or not but they never got anything back."

Bannon became the Pacers' first president, but it was Treece who played a key role in one of the two defining moments in the team's early history: the purchase of future Hall of Fame center Mel Daniels for $100,000.

"He had the money to put up a note," Montieth said. "If the Minneapolis' franchise isn't moving to Miami, or they had better ownership, they were not going to trade Mel in that fire sale. They needed quick cash for the franchise fee and they didn't care if they made the fans mad because they were moving."

The other defining moment was hiring Bobby "Slick" Leonard to replace the Pacers' first coach, Larry Staverman, eight games into the 1968-69 season.

Leonard had been out of coaching since 1964 and was selling high school graduation supplies for Herff Jones in Kokomo.

"The Pacers were 38-40 that first year, an average team, could have been better with a different coach," Montieth said. "The second year, they're off to a 1-7 start and need a new coach. Slick Leonard is up the road in Kokomo working for Herff Jones. He had a losing record in Baltimore and Chicago because he had young teams that weren't good enough to win yet. He's available and he's got a name in Indiana."

Leonard kept his job with Herff Jones while coaching the Pacers, holding practices in the evenings at the old Indiana State Fair Coliseum. Under Leonard that season, the Pacers went 43-27 the rest of the way, winning their first division and conference titles before losing to Rick Barry and Oakland in the 1969 Finals.

"Hugely lucky, not only those two things but to get Roger Brown out of a factory in Dayton, Ohio," Montieth said. "One future Hall of Famer out of a factory and another for $100,000. A Hall of Fame coach who is selling graduation supplies an hour up the road in Kokomo, and there you've got a championship franchise out of that."

Jerry Harkness, from left, Bob Netolicky, Ron Bonham and Oliver Darden from the Indiana Pacers' first season in 1967-68.(Photo: Provided by Mark Montieth)

All of that good fortune led to the moment Montieth believes Indiana began its love affair with the Pacers: Game 7 of the Eastern Division semifinals against their nemesis, the Kentucky Colonels.

Kentucky had taken a 3-1 series lead but the Pacers earned two blowout victories to force the deciding game in Indianapolis. More than 11,000 fans saw the Pacers complete the comeback with a 120-111 victory.

"They drew pretty good crowds before that, certainly," Montieth said. "(Starting forward) Bob Netolicky claimed the team was going to fold if they didn't win that game. I don't think that's true. But certainly it was a big deal, coming back from a 3-1 deficit certainly ignited that. But they had players people wanted to watch too."

In addition to Daniels and Brown, underrated point guard Freddie Lewis, Netolicky and fan favorite Jerry Harkness, later a weekend sports anchor for WTHR in Indianapolis, attracted fans.

"Reborn" leaves you wanting to learn more about the early days of the Indiana Pacers, especially the championship years that soon followed with former Purdue stars Billy Keller and Rick Mount making significant contributions along with another Indiana Mr. Basketball, George McGinnis.

That's a book Montieth hopes will be part of a trilogy that will also include the early days of pro basketball in Indianapolis. I, for one, cannot wait.

Thompson is sports editor of the Journal & Courier

The cover of Mark Montieth's latest book, Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis(Photo: Provided by Mark Montieth)